Unconventional Ministry

More than half of the global population has migrated to or near cities. By 2050, two-thirds of the population will live in metropolitan areas. Urbanization and immigration are transforming the makeup of our cities. Is it time to rethink how the Church in America does missions? How should the local church respond?

In the episode, learn from Dr. Jared Looney with Global City Mission as they promote an innovative local church missions model in the context of rapid urbanization, globalization, multidirectional global migration, and postmodernity.

Please share this episode with your church missions team.

In this episode, you will learn why planning for retirement is vitally important. People will spend about 25% of their lives in retirement years; however, most pastors, missionaries, and full-time ministry people do not plan or prepare for it! 

The number one reason why most church pastors don't retire is that they can't afford to. My guest Mark Senseman with Servant Solutions explains the reasons why this is the case and offers practicable doable solutions.

Remember to share this episode with those that might have an interest in the topic. You can also subscribe to the podcast so you do not miss an episode.

In this episode, you will hear the powerful story of how Beth Thorp and her husband turned a personal tragedy, the death of their teenage son Mitchell, into something meaningful, while keeping faith in God’s plan.

When there is a serious childhood illness in the family, 75% of families will divorce or separate. The Thorps created the Mitchell Thorp Foundation in honor of the tragic death of their son. Mitchell Thorp Foundation's mission is to support families whose children suffer from life-threatening illnesses, diseases, and disorders by providing financial, emotional, and resource support to their desperate situations. It is based on the experience the Thorpe family went through (www.mitchellthorp.org). To date, none of the hundreds of families and thousands of kids they have helped have ended in divorce or separation.

Beth Thorp has recently published Mitchel’s story called ANEW Creation: Finding Meaning in the Midst of Tragedy. More information about the story is available at www.anewcreation.org.

In this episode, learn how a local church member, Nikki, was able to overcome her biggest fear and help meet a refugee’s biggest need – to have a genuine friendship! Her church recently formed a food drive ministry to meet the practical physical needs of Afghan refugees, which opened the door to conversations, relationships, and spiritual conversations.

Their ministry further led to them providing ESL/English help for the refugee women, and more recently, several of the men were also able to learn English. Nikki’s encouragement to listeners is to be willing to take risks. It is important to get over our basic fear, the fear of failure.

In this episode, learn from author, lecturer, founder and CEO of the Crescent Project, Fouad Masri. Fouad grew up in Beirut, Lebanon, and he is a third-generation ordained pastor who has written 14 books, including his newest book Sharing Jesus With Muslims.

In Sharing Jesus with Muslims, Fouad Masri shares a step-by-step strategy for Christians to set aside fear, excuses, and differences in order to share the good news of Jesus. Rich with stories and conversation starters, the book gives readers tangible and respectful ways to initiate friendships and minister to the felt needs of Muslims.

In this episode, you will learn why church growth is about more than just church attendance. Only when a church is properly resourced with the three essentials of transformational capital can church growth happen and lives be transformed. My Unconventional Ministry guest is Dirk Scates, Vice President of Ministry Development with CDF Capital. 

While CDF Capital sounds might sound like an investment firm, their focus is really on discipleship and church growth! Since 1953, CDF Capital has been helping churches get the resources they need to transform lives and communities.

In this episode, you will learn about a unique and interactive app that will revolutionize your family's devotions while disciplining the family. My guest is Ben Myers, founder of the ActorsBible app.

One hundred years ago, it was the norm for dads to wake up early to meet with God and have something called "family worship." This was time spent together praying and singing a worship song to God, followed by the reading of a portion from the Bible and a brief discussion about the text. Sadly, this does not happen in most homes today.

The role fathers play in the spiritual formation of their children is at the core of this exciting new tool to help fathers play their part in family discipleship.

In the episode, hear from Dr. Craig Forrest, an award-winning filmmaker who has traveled to 151 countries and six continents. He shares his perspective on Christian media from around the world.

• Why Christian media opportunities are incredible

Passionate about inspiring a young generation to harness the power of media production to further the Gospel, Craig has become a frequent speaker at TV and media conferences throughout Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America; and most recently, he has served as an adjunct professor of media production at Pepperdine University, Regent University, and Concordia University.

https://www.matchstickmedia.org/

In this episode, my wife Cindy and our daughters Brooke and Brynden join me to reminisce about some of our family Christmas traditions. Most families have Christmas traditions, but for us, many of our traditions come from living internationally, working with the Church in Africa, and raising our daughters there.

What is a unique Christmas tradition your family has? Please share in the comments.  Merry Christmas!

In this episode, hear from Praise Live CEO Dave McIver on the innovative Christian radio program format of Praise Live, his impressions after attending the SAT-7 Network Meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, and Praise Live’s significant expansion into Africa.

In 1995, God spoke to Dave in a dream about creating a radio station format to focus on preparing listeners' hearts through praise and worship, resulting in prayer for the nations. Praise Live is about reaching people with worship music, scripture, and stories of hope. Now, Praise Live is seeing the vision being fulfilled as people all over the world are participating in worship through the station.